A two-month old app is accounting for over 25% of Himalaya's transactions

The brand has big plans for its very own mobile shopping app. And so far shoppers are obligingDelshad Irani | ETBrandEquity | July 15, 2016, 08:29 IST

Image credit: Thinkstock Last March, mobile traffic for personal care brand Himalaya surpassed desktop traffic on its website. A company survey revealed 52% of the consumers interviewed said they need a mobile app to shop. In May, the Himalaya Drug Company, which makes a range of products spanning pharmaceuticals, wellness, personal care, baby care, animal health and nutrition, launched its own shopping app. In less than two months since its launch, 25 to 30% of all transactions are now happening through the app. Average app downloads per day is over 200, according to the company.

Himalaya, much like other companies such as Adidas (launching its shopping app in December), are creating their own apps as part of an omnichannel retail strategy, where customers have the choice to buy products on the website, through the mobile app and at a brick and mortar store, if they so wish. Ganesh Ramaswamy, senior manager, digital wing, The Himalaya Drug Company, tells BE, "Customers can place orders through the app, which will be serviced from the nearest local Himalaya store (leveraging our present network of 170 exclusive Himalaya stores); this also ensures that e-commerce complements our offline sales and helps build better engagement with consumers. In addition, if a customer walks into a Himalaya store and is unable to find a product, they can place the order at our store point of sale and it gets serviced through the e-commerce team."

Over the next year the company intends to build visibility for the app through TV commercials and exclusive launches on the marketplace, and promote it heavily through retail and sales force. According to the company the app will give Himalaya the opportunity to deliver personalized marketing ie recommending products based on purchase trends, engaging content on products, tips and advice on health, beauty and wellness, and better customer service. In addition to that the company intends to use valuable data generated to unearth crucial consumer insights, for instance, SKU preferences in given geographies, demographics for a particular SKU, target group refinement, etc.

On the consumer front, one of the interesting bits of data on app usage gathered by the company so far is the fact that it got a high number of downloads from Tier III markets - including smaller towns like Kargi, Porbandar and Kohima, among others. In fact, 43% of all downloads has been from Tier III. And 84% of all users are men.